South Dakota Highway Patrol Looking to Add More Troopers

The South Dakota Highway Patrol is looking for their next generation of troopers and is wondering if you would like to take a ride along to see if being a trooper might be the right career path for you.

Dakota News Now is reporting the patrol is now in the process of recruiting state trooper candidates. A twelve-person recruit class is getting ready to graduate in April, and they need to start preparing for the future.

Former Field Training Officer Sergeant Josh Olson told Dakota News Now, "We're a growing organization, so we've added some positions over the years, and we're looking down the road too. We know we're going to have some retirements in the next year or two, so we want to make sure that we're looking ahead, that's why we're going to be hiring a larger group this go around."

According to Dakota News Now, one of the objectives of the South Dakota Highway Patrol is to add a little diversity to the agency. The more diversity, the better.

Adding additional troopers will not only help to improve the safety of the public, but it will also help to protect the troopers already on duty.

Sergeant Olson encourages anyone interested in becoming a trooper candidate to get in contact with one of the agency's district offices and schedule a time to do a ride-along. That will help to give every interested person an opportunity to see exactly what a day in the life of a trooper is like. That way, you'll know for sure if it's something you might want to pursue.

March 20th is the deadline to apply for the next South Dakota Highway Patrol hiring cycle.